No misunderstanding between players: Bharat Chettri

Indian hockey has been in the doldrums as long as one can remember. If anything, it has only got worse — what with two organisations claiming authority over running the game in India. On the field, the team has a tough task — to ensure qualification for the Olympics. With the Olympic qualifiers lined up in February next year, the hockey squad is being put through its paces by coach Michael Nobbs.

In an exclusive interview to Sportskeeda, captain and goalkeeper Bharat Chettri talks about the team’s preparation for the upcoming five-Test series against South Africa ahead of the qualifiers.

Excerpts:

There is always some controversy or the other surrounding hockey. Doesn’t this create unnecessary pressure for the team?

We have nothing to do with what the officials are up to. Our duty is to play hockey and we concentrate on that. The controversies surrounding hockey and our performance are different. Controversies don’t affect our game nor does they give us any mental stress.

You were one of the top six players to pull out of WSH. Now that the event is postponed to February, will you take part in it?

I don’t want to comment about WSH at this point. We will be playing a few Test matches ahead of the Olympic qualifiers next month and my focus is on that.

What is the training with Michael Nobbs like?

Nobbs has a very different way of training. His game itself is different. Earlier we used to play European hockey but now we have been playing an attacking game. To play an attacking game, we need to run up and down a lot because of which there is a lot of emphasis on our fitness. In this form of play, we get to score a lot too and that’s a plus. We have David John as our fitness coach and working with these two has been a very different experience.

Initially when the new coach took over, there was concern regarding players’ weight. How are you working on it now?

Yes, when David John took over as our fitness coach he pointed out that Indians are not on par with European players in terms of our build. As you know, we are underweight compared to them. So we are working on building mass and he has given us some protein powders and we are following a different diet.

For long, the hockey fraternity has argued for an Indian coach instead of a foreigner. What is your opinion?

It depends on the coach and his style of functioning. According to me, our performance has always been good under a foreign coach. We did well under our earlier coach Brasa. We reached the Commonwealth hockey final and also the Asian Games semis and lost to Malaysia. These guys bring in a good setup.

Speaking of the forthcoming Olympic qualifiers, how is the team gearing up for the challenge?

We have just come back from South Africa where we played some good matches. We are about 48 players in the camp. It’s a mix of seniors and some newcomers right now. The 40-day camp is more of a fitness-cum-hockey camp and our training sessions are broken into two or three sessions a day. We will be playing Test matches with South Africa and Malaysia next month. We will know where we stand in terms of performance. The team for the Olympic qualifiers will be picked after the Test series. So far things are shaping up pretty well for the team.

Unlike cricket, Indian hockey does not have a long-standing captain. We have a new captain every other tournament. Is this because of issues within the team?

Yes, the captaincy has changed hands but that’s not because of any misunderstanding among players. We have all been playing together as a team for about six-seven years now and we are all good friends. If one of us is suddenly named captain that does not change the understanding between us. Things remain the same.

What’s captaincy been like for you? How did you enjoy it?

I have a good understanding with all the players. If I tell them something they all take it positively. Taking over the captaincy doesn’t change anything. It’s the same responsibility and it was a fun experience for me.

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